First of all, before we go on, click on
the link at left to begin downloading this
terrific conversion. While you are doing
that, I will explain. What you are getting
is Rapture, by Tronyn, [Kona], and The Lieutenant,
quite possibly one of the best conversions
we have ever seen here at Retro Quake. Rapture
is a set of connected maps with a Start
and an End level, but it does not really
count as an "episode". It can
almost be considered a Mission Pack in miniature,
because at the end of each regular map is
one of the game's Runes. The maps as a result
are all very large, and full of monsters,
puzzles, and challenges. The player will
note the presence of some of the monsters
as well as the Hammer weapon from Scourge
Of Armagon in this conversion. They are
of course a welcome sight and really spice
things up. There is even a story of sorts,
in the form of a pretty long text interlude
between maps that fleshes out the player's
journey, from a hired soldier to... his
destiny.
The textures look a lot like they came
from the medieval levels of Scourge Of Armagon
as well, but the authors specify on their
website that textures from Daikatana and
Hexen II were used. It doesn't really matter,
since every level shows nothing short of
masterful texture usage. GLQuake is highly
recommended for this level, especially the
"Unofficial" 1.13 release from
our Files page with its GL fog and bumpmapping
turned on. While the levels with water have
been compiled for transparent water, the
ones with lava have not. This was most likely
a conscious choice and we respect it, but
to keep the lava from having a weird effect,
the user must turn the wateralpha flag off
at the console on those levels. However,
water does not come into play much in this
level anyway, at least in terms of secrets.
Playing through these levels, the player
has to really appreciate the architecture.
These environments are not only amazing
to look at, but functional. There are hallways,
parapets, gateways and doors, and battlements;
and all look like they could exist in real
life. Don't think for a minute though that
functionality equates to boring or linear
levels. Quite the opposite. There are plenty
of twists and turns, and high places that
must be reached in order to advance. The
gameflow also seems perfectly tuned, with
objectives that are pretty clear to see
and logical tasks that must be performed
to reach them. In short, I don't think Hipnotic,
Rogue, or even id themselves could have
designed these levels any better.
Finally, we come to the difficulty. There
are a few places where the enemies won't
seem to notice you if you come at them from
the side, but overall I cannot lie to you;
playing this on Normal tested the limit
of this reviewer's competent skill. Playing
on Hard would probably require a lot of
knowledge of the levels as well as locations
of weapon caches, and of course extremely
good aim and reflexes. Playing on Nightmare...
all I can say is "good luck".
In addition to the usual assortment of original
Quake enemies (dogs, Ogres, Barons, and
Vores seem to dominate), you also find several
fugitives from Scourge Of Armagon, as well
as a modified "Baron" monster
guarding each of the game's four Runes that
is entirely new. These Barons each have
extremely high armor as well as a nasty
weapon based on which "element"
they represent, and move as fast as a Reaper
Bot. Nails seem to be the most effective
against them, so be sure to have a full
supply before going in. Overall this is
some of the toughest combat we have seen
in a single-player Quake conversion.
But even with the steep difficulty, this
conversion is simply a "must-have".
With incredible level design and texture
usage, and logical gameflow, you just can't
miss. Indeed, this pack could almost stand
as a retail product but you can get it for
free online, which means there's no excuse
to pass it by. For anyone that still appreciates
single-player Quake, they owe it to themselves
to download and immerse themselves in the
rapture of Rapture. Highly, highly recommended.
Level Created by Tronyn, [Kona], and The
Lieutenant
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